How Maraba dey answer call for your business — even when you sleep

Imagine say na you get small pharmacy for Surulere. You don close for 8 o'clock. You don bath, you don relax small, your pikin don sleep. Then 9:43 — your phone dey ring. Somebody wan know whether you get Metformin. If you no answer, dem go find another pharmacy. If you answer, you don sacrifice your night rest for query wey Maraba fit handle for you in two minutes.

Dat na the problem wey Maraba solve. We go explain am proper — how Maraba work, wetin she fit do, wetin she no fit do, and how you go set am up for your own business.

Who be Maraba, sef?

Maraba na your AI receptionist. She no be human — make we no deceive anybody. But she fit answer phone call, understand wetin your customer dey talk, give dem useful answer from the information wey you don put for her, and even book appointment go inside your calendar. All dis one — automatic. You no need to dey there.

She sabi English. She sabi Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo. If your customer mix language for middle of sentence — half Hausa, half English — Maraba go understand the two sides. She no go confuse herself and say "I no understand."

And she dey fast. Before your customer finish talk wetin dem want, Maraba don already dey process am. Response come inside two seconds. No long silence. No "please hold." Customer no even know say dem dey talk to AI — e just feel like your receptionist wey sabi the job well.

Wetin go happen when somebody call your business number

Make we break am down:

All dis one happen while you dey sleep. You wake up for morning, you see the WhatsApp summaries, you know everything wey happen for night.

Real example — Lagos restaurant

Make we take example. Chef Temi get restaurant for Lekki Phase 1. She dey for kitchen from 5pm Friday. Phone dey ring every few minutes — people wan book table, people dey ask about menu, people dey ask say if dem fit bring cake for birthday. Before Maraba, she go miss plenty of those calls. Na her assistant, Dami, dey try answer phone while e dey manage front of house. E no fit do two things at once.

After Maraba:

Chef Temi no do anything. Maraba book am, inform am, and Saturday evening na 10 people full table, celebrating, ordering plenty drinks. Na that kind business wey dey make sense.

The pharmacy example — 9pm call

Back to the Surulere pharmacy. Pharmacist Oga Chidi don configure Maraba with him drug availability list — updated every Monday morning. Him knowledge base contain: wetin dey in stock, price, and the rule say Maraba no suppose give medical advice. Only answer wetin dey in the knowledge base.

Oga Chidi dey sleep well. Alhaji Musa get im medication for morning. Business done — nobody stress.

Wetin Maraba no fit do — make we be honest

We no go lie to you. Maraba get limit.

She no sabi give medical advice. If somebody call pharmacy and say "which drug e good for malaria?" Maraba go tell dem say that one na question for pharmacist — she no go recommend drug. That na design decision, not error. We follow proper boundary.

She no sabi handle argument well well. If customer dey vex, dey shout, dey threaten — Maraba go try calm dem down, but if the wahala pass certain level, she go transfer the call to you or your team. Some situations need real human.

She no sabi do things wey e no dey your knowledge base. If you no tell Maraba say your shop dey do delivery, she no go tell customer say you dey do delivery. She no guess. She go say "that information is not available to me right now" and offer to take a message. So the more detail you put for your knowledge base, the better Maraba go answer.

And she no sabi speak Pidgin as first language yet — that work still dey go on. She understand Pidgin well enough to follow conversation, but she go respond in whichever language your account dey set as primary. We dey work on full Pidgin model. When e ready, e go be here.

How you go set am up — five steps

Most business owners finish this setup for one afternoon. You no need developer, no need tech person. The dashboard is straightforward.

How much e cost?

Free plan: 50 calls, English only. Good for testing and small business wey get light call volume.

Starter — ₦20,000 per month: 200 calls, all four languages (Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, English), WhatsApp summaries, Google Calendar booking. Na dis one wey most small business start with.

Pro — ₦65,000 per month: 1,000 calls, up to five phone numbers, analytics dashboard, webhook integrations. For bigger business wey get high call volume — pharmacy, restaurant, logistics, clinic.

Enterprise: unlimited calls, unlimited numbers. For when your business don reach that level.

E get pay-as-you-go option too if you pass your plan limit — ₦0.50 per second of call time, minimum ₦25 per call. So you no go lose call because you don finish your monthly limit.

Why this make sense for Nigerian business

The truth about Nigerian business na dis: your customer dey call at all kinds of time. They call when dem finally get chance — during break at work, after dem reach home, late at night when the day done quiet down. If your phone only dey available 9am to 5pm, you dey lose half your potential customers before dem even talk to you.

And during those same 9am to 5pm hours, you dey run your business. You no fit be at the counter AND for the kitchen AND on the phone at the same time. Maraba handle the phone. You handle your business.

For ₦20,000 a month — dat na less than one customer you lose per week. If your average transaction value dey above ₦20,000, then recovering even one missed call per week don pay for the entire month. For most businesses, e recover plenty more than that.